Shakespeare in European Culture
Shakespeare in European Culture is an international book series promoting the historically based study of the aesthetic, cultural, linguistic and political functions that Shakespeare as a figure and his works have played in Europe’s complex and evolving multilingual and multicultural spaces during the past 425 years.
Books in the series will be either collective volumes or monographs. The series takes a particular interest in books that trace the European history of individual Shakespearean works (e.g., Romeo and Juliet in European Culture). It will, however, also welcome books with a differently defined focus (e.g., the reception of Shakespeare in a specific language, culture or genre), provided they show a keen awareness of the circulation of Shakespearean texts both below and above the ‘national’ levels within the many ‘European’ frameworks past and present.
The series aims to highlight not only how Shakespearean texts, models and myths have shaped European cultural identities, but also that there is no ‘Shakespeare’ without his European sources, influences and afterlives.
The language of publication is English. However, in the spirit of European multilingualism the series has an open and inclusive attitude towards other languages quoted or discussed.
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Othello in European Culture
More LessThis volume argues that a focus on the European reception of Othello represents an important contribution to critical work on the play. The chapters in this volume examine non-anglophone translations and performances, alternative ways of distinguishing between texts, adaptations and versions, as well as differing perspectives on questions of gender and race. Additionally, a European perspective raises key political questions about power and representation in terms of who speaks for and about Othello, within a European context profoundly divided over questions of immigration, religious, ethnic, gender and sexual difference. The volume illustrates the ways in which Othello has been not only a stimulus but also a challenge for European Shakespeares. It makes clear that the history of the play is inseparable from histories of race, religion and gender and that many engagements with the play have reinforced rather than challenged the social and political prejudices of the period.
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Romeo and Juliet in European Culture
More LessWith its roots deep in ancient narrative and in various reworkings from the late medieval and early modern period, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has left a lasting trace on modern European culture. This volume aims to chart the main outlines of this reception process in the broadest sense by considering not only critical-scholarly responses but also translations, adaptations, performances and various material and digital interventions which have, from the standpoint of their specific local contexts, contributed significantly to the consolidation of Romeo and Juliet as an integral part of Europe’s cultural heritage. Moving freely across Europe’s geography and history, and reflecting an awareness of political and cultural backgrounds, the volume suggests that Shakespeare’s tragedy of youthful love has never ceased to impose itself on us as a way of articulating connections between the local and the European and the global in cases where love and hatred get in each other’s way. The book is concluded by a selective timeline of the play’s different materialisations.
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Shakespeare and Crisis
More LessShakespeare and Crisis: One hundred years of Italian narratives explores how Shakespeare intervened in the Italian socio-political and cultural scene between his third and fourth centenaries, at times which were manifestly perceived as ‘critical’. It asks which complex mythopoietic processes contributed to shaping regimes of reading Shakespeare in response to those times of crisis. Crises of national identity during the Great War and the Fascist regime, crises of history in the 1970s, and crises of representation in the second half of the twentieth century extending into the new millennium constitute the three main areas of a discussion that ultimately aims at probing into the role of literature at times of crisis. The volume situates itself at the juncture of European Shakespeare studies and studies of Shakespeare and Italy. It addresses essential questions about the position of literature in society, offering at different levels new insights for scholars, students, and the general reader.
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